Warriors-Suns on NBA Opening Night, per report

The Warriors, like they have so often over the last decade, will open their season in the national spotlight.

They will host the Phoenix Suns in the second game of the NBA’s Opening Night on Oct. 24, according to league insider Shams Charania. It will be Kevin Durant’s first game in front of Bay Area fans since leaving the Warriors in the summer of 2019 after Golden State. He has played once at Chase Center since then, in 2021 in front of an empty arena due to COVID restrictions.

The game will also be the first time Chris Paul will don a Warriors jersey in a regular-season game, and he’ll be facing his former teammates after being traded to Washington for Bradley Beal, then flipped to the Warriors for a package that included Jordan Poole.

Coach Steve Kerr’s starting lineup will be a major focus for observers, as Paul has never come off the bench in his 18 years of regular-season and playoff games, but the Warriors’ starting lineup from last season — the league’s best five-man group by net rating — remains intact.

The game will air on TNT following the reigning champion Nuggets’ opener against the Lakers, who ousted the Warriors in the second round of last season’s playoffs.

Early last season, the Phoenix-Golden State matchup featured a memorable moment, as Klay Thompson was ejected after talking trash to Devin Booker, reminding him that Thompson has four championship rings even as the Warriors star struggled shooting while Booker finished with 34 points.